Category: Pregnancy

Mon., Nov. 17th – After a morning of what seemed like tortured sleep, I finally started to really drift off again around 5:15…which left me with 15 whole minutes to sleep and I was exhausted, so I just got up and texted Mrs. V. that I wasn’t going into work. I figured a text would be good since she’s not usually awake at that time.

I always feel guilty calling in, but I wasn’t going to torture myself trying to stay up all day or getting into an accident driving to or from work so I think I made the right choice. I have to use up my sick days anyway, before I stop working. Since I didn’t sign up for Disability last year I don’t qualify for Maternity Leave at all—bastards.

Anyway, all I had to do was wake up at 7:30 when the alarm went off for Mario and call my absence in.

Only I didn’t call in at 7:30…because I woke Mario up and fell back to sleep till 9am! The girls are so good to me; when I jumped out of bed and called in I didn’t get scolded LOL.

It really didn’t feel like a free, restful day at all. Alaethia was in an awful mood, probably due to teething and after school when I picked the boys up they were in terrible moods, too. Maybe it was the weather?

Tues., Nov. 18th – I wasn’t surprised to find lots of books left over for me to shelve from the day before, just as I thought there’d be. I have to thank Mrs. Ruiz, the saint, because she went in for a little while and checked-in/shelved some books for me.

I started off the day by inputting all the manual check-ins from the day before during advisory. At least the internet worked long enough to finish checking-in books. After that, the internet was slow all day, so I was still checking in books well after lunch, which is not normal. I’m usually done checking in by at least 10:30 and have the rest of the day to help kids with Reading Renaissance and shelve books. Thank goodness 2 substitutes and Mrs. Ruiz showed up to help me. What a difference they made.

All I wanted to do was rest when I got home, but I’d agreed to let Aaron come over and visit for a while. Not that he’s any trouble; both he and Jaylen are very well-behaved together.

My throat started feeling weird that night. Alaethia fell asleep early but woke up right when I was ready to go to bed; lucky me. She didn’t let me fall asleep till probably midnight and then woke up for something to drink at 4:20, like always. Which left me with less than an hour to sleep before my alarm went off.

Wed., Nov. 19th – I don’t think there’s anything creepier than driving down Jarachinas Road in thick, dense fog. This is the same road I mentioned when I first started working—the dark, creepy, never-ending one. Usually I’m cursing buses and slow traffic that holds me back (and makes me late to clock in) but this time I gratefully followed close to the bus, truck and car in front of me. The last time I drove in fog that thick, around 2 months ago, I was all alone and was driving so slow I felt like I’d never get to work.

I was quickly developing a cold; mother was sick with a cold so she’s probably the source of my sickness. I was desperate doing research online to see what I could take for my horrible sore throat and turns out Chloraseptic and the Ludens Sore Throat Drops I had on hand were just fine.

Thurs., Nov. 20th – The internet was so slow at work. I had lots of work to do, meaning I had piles among piles of books to check-in and shelve. Usually everything’s done a little while after I come back from lunch but I had work left over for the next day; that’s how bad it was! Didn’t help that I had a purchase order to submit and it was a nightmare from the beginning. I seriously hate those things. Thank God Mrs. Ruiz showed up. I got to vent about how I didn’t get to go to lunch till almost 2pm (1 hour before I clock out!) and she helped with the massive amount of books.

Once I got home I tried to relax and went to the boys’ Report Card Night with just about the whole family. Mario and Mary got home on time from work to go with Mom, the kids and me. I was really thirsty so I chugged a huge glass of grapefruit juice on the way out. As soon as we stepped foot in the parking lot of the school I began to feel queasy. I was jittery and felt like I’d puke. I couldn’t even properly say hello to Norma and the kids because I felt so bad.

We spoke to Jaylen’s teacher first, who, of course, had nothing but nice things to say. She said she was really impressed with him and even made a really nice comment about how she had us to thank because he wouldn’t be such a great kid if it weren’t for great parenting *tear*. She said he’s doing so well she recommends giving him 2nd grade and then 3rd grade work if he can pull it off. She said she’d never want to promote him to a higher grade because they’re never ready, so she’d just be giving him higher level material. He made all A Honor Roll!

We spoke to their choir teacher after that and signed. We went to Eenan’s class next. His teacher said he’s still a bit distracted, but he has been doing better. We also discussed the bully he’d been dealing with. I told her about how he’d actually call home or while we were at work and ask if we could pick him up. She was concerned and said she’d speak with him and maybe set up yet another meeting with his mom. Apparently this is a regular, every-day thing for him.

I was tearing open his report card as we were walking down the hall. I smiled and raised an eyebrow to him as I tore along the perforated edges; I’d warned him that if he got anything less than a 90 for Composition he was in big trouble. He’d just brought home two unfinished compositions the day before that his teacher was giving him a chance to finish up before she posted grades. It’s not that he can’t do it—it’s that he gets lazy and/or distracted and doesn’t want to do anything in class. He’s a terrific writer and has an amazing imagination; I know what he’s capable of.

He clutched his little hands together and prayed, “Please no B’s, please no B’s!” I told him to shush; someone would hear and say, “She’s one of THOSE MOMS,” which I’m not. Like I said, I just know what he’s capable of and he was not going to get away with messing around in class. He was saved though: he made all A’s, too!

We visited their Gifted & Talented class next. Their teacher told us about their upcoming Thanksgiving plays and showed us their decorations and self-made costumes. Everything was too cute. They both love that class. They get to express themselves and be as creative as their heart desires. I love their teacher—she’s hyper and laughs a lot like me LOL.

We went to their assembly in the cafeteria. Jaylen and the rest of the 1st graders performed a few Thanksgiving songs. It was too cute. We sat with Jason & Mirella, who were there for Brianna’s performance as well. As cute as they looked and sounded, I couldn’t wait to go home. They were having a potluck dinner and the smells were making me even more nauseous.

When we got home Eenan rushed to do his homework (thank God we went back that night or else he wouldn’t have known what to do) and Mario and I watched Grey’s Anatomy. Well, we watched it somewhat—as much as you can with three kids screaming their heads off every 5 minutes.

Mario ended up passing out while Jaylen showered. Aly watched Bridge to Terabithia and Eenan showered. When they were both done, they watched Alaethia for me while I showered. I felt like crap that night. I felt like barfing from my dry throat and dry cough and sleep was pretty much out of the question.

Fri., Nov. 21st – It was actually in the 40’s and drizzly all day. I had a chance to make myself some coffee which kept me nice and warm on the way to work. I really didn’t feel like going in at all since my sore throat (and Alaethia) didn’t let me fall asleep till 1am, but oh well. She woke up twice for something to drink: sure sign of mom putting her to sleep for more than an hour during the day. And to top it off, there was rain pelting on the window like pebbles and I couldn’t sleep. When I finally did drift off into sleep the darn alarm went off at 5:30. I slept about 2 1/2 hours in total. I felt like shit. But I had to go in. I’d already been absent on Monday. Mrs. Ruiz had already paid for my plate for the fundraiser we were having that day and I owed her so I didn’t want to be absent for that either. The food was delicious, even though the fajitas had a weird lighter-fluid taste O_o.

I chilled out most of the afternoon. I don’t remember if Mario and I went anywhere at all that day but I tried going to sleep semi-early since I had to be up super early the next morning.

Sat., Nov. 22nd – I couldn’t sleep all night Friday due to my cough and then had to wake up at 6:20 to get Eenan ready for his U.I.L. competition and drop him off by 6:45am. It was cold. I got home and changed back into PJ bottoms to go to sleep again, only I couldn’t sleep because I was coughing. When I finally did fall asleep I was out maybe two hours before Aly woke up for good. Poo. Sleep throughout this pregnancy has been slim to none!

I scooped Alaethia up and made us some breakfast. I chilled out with her and then realized we had no cash for Jaylen’s day out. His best friend, Aaron, and Aaron’s parents invited him to go watch Bolt, out to eat and then back home to play some Playstation 2. I was sleepy and moody so I huffed and puffed while I got ready to go to the bank. Mario offered to go for me, only after he saw that I was completely dressed and ready to walk out the door. Grr. I withdrew his cash and then dropped off Jaylen at Aaron’s house. I came back home and chilled out, trying not to fume at Mario. He was still nice and toasty in bed after coming home at 4am. He wouldn’t have come home at even that time had I not texted him. He couldn’t sleep as always so he’d slinked off to Chris’ house and lost track of time. I’m a lil’ jealous that he gets to sleep when he wants, do whatever he wants. According to other women I’ve spoken to, this seems to be the norm with husbands.

The baby’s been moving like crazy. I can actually see her move her knees or feet along my belly now. I’m glad I can finally feel her and know for a fact that she’s alright in there.

We’d been throwing around the idea of moving the boys’ stuff to Noelia’s old bedroom, which is Mary’s spare bedroom. I felt weird about it because although our houses are only separated by a wall and the back door to Mary’s house is like 5 steps away, I didn’t feel right not having my babies sleeping in the same house. They’d still do their homework here, eat here, etc. The only difference is that their beds would be in that room and that’s where they’d sleep. After a lot of thought, I finally agreed. Alaethia and the new baby would need their own room; it was becoming pretty cramped in our bedroom. And it would only be until we can start on the new house, which hopefully won’t take an eternity (although the economy, housing market and Border Patrol not calling Mario yet will be a challenge).

I picked up Eenan from school and he was sad that he didn’t place. We need to practice some more. He went from placing every competition last year to not even getting into the semi-finals. But we’ll work on it.

We went to storage to get the bunk bed ladder to turn their separate beds into bunks again. Mario stayed home setting everything up, Mom helped with watching the kiddos and I went with Mary, Yadira, Tommy and Angela to town. Mary wanted to look for a new dresser and was either going to borrow Yadira’s Lack’s account or my Furniture Row account. Lack’s was our first stop and it was extremely expensive. They wanted $1,000 for each chest of drawers—and they were made of compressed wood!

We went to eat at the Taco Bell/Long John Silver’s since we were all starving. I had popcorn shrimp, of course, and was surprised to find that I for once didn’t finish the whole meal. I’m assuming the baby’s taking up so much space now it’s going to be hard to finish a meal. I had the same “problem” when I was pregnant with Alaethia. I’d get real full, real fast.

We went to Furniture Row next. I wasn’t very happy with the drawer chests since I was specifically looking for one with 6 drawers so each boy would have three and three. They already had one with 5 drawers, so Jaylen was left without a pajama drawer. It’s actually a really nice dresser Aunt Nora gave them, but since the drawers are made of compressed wood, the boys have dropped them and broken them and I’ve fixed them so many times they’re falling apart.

In the end, I actually found a Pine dresser made completely of wood. It only had five dressers, but I figured I’d buy him a basket or Rubbermaid box for his PJ’s.

Since Alaethia was born we’ve been using the same plastic 3-drawer box for her clothes. I figured it was finally time to buy her a proper dresser; one big enough for her and her new sister to share. I found a beautiful white dresser, one fit for a princess, even! It’s very vintage/shabby chic.

Mary ended up with a dining table and chocolate colored euro-suede couch. Totally didn’t get what she initially went for. I also got a small ottoman to match my sofas. I was a bit worried I wouldn’t have enough credit, but I had tons. And the huge plus is that we get no interest/no payment till 2011!

We got home and chilled out at Mary’s. We met Jorge’s new girlfriend! They’d met since Brandon’s birthday party the night after Halloween and have been seeing each other ever since! I’m so glad he found someone!

I came back home and started cleaning the debris left under the boys’ beds. Mario had already set up the bunk beds in the boys’ new room. Their old room was a horrible mess. My back hurt by the end of the night. I was a little upset at Mario who walked in to check how I was doing (the audacity) and when I asked him, “Are you going to help me with this?” he replied, “Of course!” and promptly walked out the door. He didn’t mean to do it maliciously, it just happened to look that way. He was busy drinking and entertaining outside, as usual.

I was already emotional from being exhausted from cleaning and Mario walking out. I started thinking about the boys not sleeping in their room and cried a little, which is silly because they’re a bedroom away basically and would sleep over most of the week anyway. Still, I can’t wait to build my dream house. We should have had it by now but we’ve been hindered by many obstacles. It’ll happen one day, though. Sooner than it seems, I hope.

Wed., Nov. 12th – Mario’s birthday! I got to sleep 2 hours more than usual because I’d already reported my absence to everyone who needed to know a day early. I woke up, took a shower, and made Mario breakfast. I couldn’t eat, of course, because I had to fast for the glucose screening. I woke him up to eat and get ready to go to my appointment. I was so excited that he was actually going to get to go with me to an appointment. This was the first time he’d gotten to go with me this whole pregnancy.

We get to the office and I sign in. I explain to Mario what the appointment is about and tells me he’s going to go home to get our books. While he’s gone they give me the drink to take. Bleh. I’ve never liked that thing, especially because I feel nauseous after a while and then get heartburn.

We read our books and when he’s not reading he’s complaining that he doesn’t want to be there that long and I should have warned him–which I had, but he was playing Mobsters and wasn’t listening. Both times I told him. And I can’t ask him when he’s not playing Mobsters because he’s always playing Mobsters, or else he’s not here or asleep.

Anyway, although he annoyed me he made the time pass more quickly than if I’d been there alone.

They called us to the vitals room. I’m happy to report I hardly gained anything in the 3 weeks since my last appointment. I was 137 last time and 137.8 this time, woo! It was really surprising, though, since I’m visibly bigger than I was 3 weeks ago.

An hour passes and they come and prick my finger to check my blood for the glucose and anemia. Dr. C. comes in about 15 minutes later with a grim look on his face as he’s leafing through my chart. He says I failed the screening by 9 points. I should have been at 140 but was at 149. He said he’d work out a deal with me: would I want to take the 3-hour test or be monitored? I chose monitoring. I already felt really nauseous and hungry; there was no way I’d survive another 3 hours.

So the deal is I’m going to have to start monitoring my sugars again and they’re going to be seeing me every 2 weeks instead of 3. I really hate pricking my finger.

I got an ultrasound done after that and we watched our little one move around and we saw her profile. And yes, she’s most definitely still a girl LOL. I ask them to check to be sure every single time. I’ll still probably be in disbelief until they place her on my chest when she’s born and I get to SEE that she’s a girl LOL. It’s too awesome and I can’t get over it: two boys and two girls!

We came home and Mario got on Mobsters (of course) while I looked through my Baby Name Book. I found nothing. I’m starting all over from “A” and I hope we really find a name before she’s born. All my other kiddos had their names by now!

Eenan called us around 12:30 and wanted us to pick him up and bring him home. I was a little alarmed and asked him why; he was adamant on coming home. Later that night he asked again if we could pick him up after they take attendance and I asked why. He confessed that a boy is bothering him at school. I’ve never had to deal with kids bullying mine before and vowed to speak to his teacher about it.

I was sleepy and nodding off (even after getting 7 straight hours of sleep + an extra one) so Mom offered to watch Alaethia (and John was on stand-by while he was on the internet LOL) while Mario and I napped. It didn’t take long for me to pass out at all and I woke up with 5 minutes to spare at 3 so I could pick up the boys at 3:10.

When everyone got home that night we all got in the vehicles and left to Chili’s, where we were celebrating Mario’s birthday. I was glad that John was actually joining us for once. Poor Mario was not in a good mood, especially because they didn’t save enough seats like we asked for and they took unusually long with the food; there were at least 5 other birthday boys and girls there, too. And of course, as if just knowing Mario’s in a bad mood isn’t nerve wracking to begin with, they bring his food last. Grrr.

Alaethia ate really well for once. She had a little bit of everything, but mostly had the Spinach and Artichoke Dip, my favorite. The boys sat with Angela, Andy and Noelia at a bench behind us, so we didn’t really get to talk to any of them much. I was so upset at how well the Chili’s people took direction that night; why else would you call and make “reservations”!

Mario opened his gifts when everyone was done eating. He’d opened his Blu-ray movie from Sonia (Hellboy II)—and he eyed me suspiciously. Mary had sneaked off to get the Playstation from all of us while he opened another gift from Mary: 2 shirts (which he already had =\) and 2 DVDs. He got a DVD and shaving kit from Noey and Andy. He opened a CD from us, the new AC/DC one. He got a laptop cooler from Mom, which he really, really needed. His face was priceless when he saw Mary bring his gifts to the table. He was thrilled.

The staff from him a complimentary chocolate cake (that sort of, in a small way, made up for the whole lack of seating fiasco) and everyone sang Happy Birthday. On the way home he said it was one of the best birthdays he’s had in a long time. I’m so glad. He always surprises me somehow, and I’m so glad I finally got the opportunity to do the same for him.

We stopped by Target to buy Alaethia a cute, soft, HUGE Care Bear for $9. We looked around quickly, since John and Mom were in the car with Alaethia, and came home. We unpacked and went next door to say hello to my father-in-law. He was thrilled because he shot a deer.

I checked my sugar before going to bed, and after eating all that stuff for dinner my sugar was at 141–dammit. It should be at 120!

Thurs., Nov. 13th – Back to work. At least it was one day of work and the next day: Fantasyland Skate Center! I tried getting everything done as it came, like shelving, so that I wouldn’t have anything to do the next day since I didn’t feel like shelving when we got back from the field trip. I just wanted to relax after we got back.

When Mrs. Ruiz got there that day she was packed with a huge bag from Mervyn’s. She’d bought me two sweaters for Christmas (’cause she said I was growing out of my other ones LOL), with the excuse that Mervyn’s was going out of business. That woman spoils me, seriously!

I think this is the day that Jaylen confessed something to me. I picked them up from school and on the way home he tells me, “Mom, guess what?”

“What?”

“I have a girlfriend!”

I’m taken aback and hide my grin. “A girlfriend? What’s her name?”

“Jazmin.”

“Really? Is she in your class?”

“No. She’s a third grader.” He’s smiling, quite satisfied with himself.

Eenan and I stare at each other and try not to look too surprised. I ask him, “Where’d you meet this older woman?”

“During lunch.”

“And you asked her to be your girlfriend?”

He says, very matter-of-factly, “No. I didn’t have to.”

Well, excuse me!

Eenan tells him, “You have to know a girl at least two years to be her boyfriend. I’ve known Lauren since 1st grade.”

I look over at Eenan (because I don’t expect them to have a “real” girlfriend yet) and ask him, “You already asked Lauren to be your girlfriend?”

He says, “No. I’m not in middle school yet.”

I’ve taught him well! Now if the Birds and the Bees talk works out this well, we’ll be all set!

Fri., Nov. 14th – The day of our field trip to Fantasyland. I got to the library and shelved the few books that were left from the day before. I knew we were going to be closed during the day while we were gone, but I wasn’t sure about 1st period and there were still kids coming in and checking in/out books. I quickly accumulated a nice pile until Mrs. V. noticed and told me to lock the doors LOL.

My group was the 6th and 7th graders and 2 other teachers, plus the nurse. The kids were actually really well-behaved on the bus and at the rink. And that’s because we had a lot of the, how do you say it–troublemakers–go along with us. But really, they were great. The kids all wanted me to skate with them. One of my girls even said she’d take care of me, but when I looked for her she was having such a hard time keeping her balance LOL. I was okay watching from the sidelines. Roxanne went with her whole class and she got on the floor for a while. And then we sat and talked about diabetes…and munched on nachos and chocolate chip cookies!

When it was all over we took the kids next door to Pizza Hut to get their personal pan pizzas and we got 4 extras for the adults. I scored one for myself, but when we got back to school I ended up giving half to one of the kids because I was full. We got the lunch from school, too, so it was a lot of food. We had a designated table where all the kids who didn’t want their food would leave the tray there, and others who wanted to trade something could—with me supervising of course. There ended up being so much food left over that once the kids were dismissed to their last period, Mrs. V. and I ended up taking a heaping tray full each. The lunch ladies would have thrown it out anyway, so that would have been a shame.

We went to the teacher’s lounge after that where we met everyone else who’d gone with us. I hadn’t expected to see Mrs. Ruiz that day but she at the lounge. We sat and talked and then went to the library when everyone else was done. We shelved a few books and just chilled out the rest of the day. Well, until one of our adopted students stopped by like he does every day, every last period when his teacher gets “tired” of him and kicks him out. No, really. But yeah, he was on a mission to drive us nuts and it worked for the 10 minutes he was there before the bell rang LOL.

I can’t remember much from after school, at home. I think we watched movies all night, Hell Boy probably. And me, being the pregnant, old-lady that I am like Mario calls me, fell asleep.

Sat., Nov. 15th – I woke up early to get ready since Mary invited us to have breakfast and then a movie. I’d just gotten dried and dressed when I hear a knock on the door. I figure its Mom because it sort of sounds like “her” knock, but when I open the door Dad’s the one to greet me. I had no idea he’d be visiting! My hair wasn’t brushed, I was in a tank top and jeans and the house was in shambles. But he didn’t mind at all.

He told me he’d told Mom he was coming over Saturday morning, but what Mom heard was that he’d call to make plans to see each other. Never leave messages with Mother.

We sat and talked about everything, including his best friend, Sally’s dad. He took a TV of my father-in-law’s and said he’d fix it for us (that’s been Dad’s job, self-employed, for as long as I can remember. I still remember the smell of all the equipment in that brown, rusty toolbox of his). He showed us his new car and we said our see-you-laters. I really need to call him up and invite him over for Thanksgiving.

We finished getting ready to go to breakfast at Denny’s. I had chocolate milk with one of those Create Your Own Grand Slam meals. It was soo good and Alaethia actually ate some egg. We went to the movies to watch Madagascar 2, and Alaethia actually paid attention! We even forgot her sippy in the car and she didn’t make a big deal about it till the movie was almost over. The movie was hilarious!

We came straight home after the movie and had about 20 minutes to chill out before Mary, the kids and myself went to one of Mary’s co-worker’s parties for her daughter at Peter Piper. We got there early so the kids could play and not be moody by the time the people and the food got there. Alaethia had fun on the little rides and the boys played their games for tickets. We came home and then watched movies the rest of the night. I was so exhausted by the end of that day. But I guess those are the good days, right?

Sun, Nov. 9th – We woke up with a cold and soggy bed. Alaethia slept most of the night (in our bed obviously) which meant I slept most of the night and I didn’t change her diaper. Just the push I needed to start laundry early.

We had breakfast at Mary’s, as we usually do on Sunday. I spent the whole day cleaning. The house was in desperate need of it; let’s just say I hadn’t had a chance to mop in about two weeks. Bless Mario—he tried watching the kids but he was also outside and playing on his laptop so, um, I could have used more help, heh.

Mario was going to bar-b-q for lunch, but since it was going to take a while I made hamburger helper and brownies. John came over and made me laugh for a while then Jennifer, Aide, Adan and Belle came over. I was washing the pile of dishes that had accumulated since the day before and although I felt awkward cleaning I had to. My feet were killing me. I timed everything so that I’d be done with most of the cleaning by 8’oclock. You don’t bother me at 8 o’clock on Sundays—Desperate Housewives is on. Mario lay on the couch with me and though I told him I still needed to bathe he walked to the bedroom, got nice and comfy and fell asleep. I was so pissed. I woke him and he reluctantly go up at 9 to watch Alaethia while I showered.

Mon., Nov. 10th – I had the mini vomits all. day. long. I’d started having never-ending heartburn the week before: even cantaloupe gives me heartburn!

I started going to lunch earlier, at 11:30, like I’d planned to. Going to lunch from 1-1:30pm (I have breakfast at 6am) just wasn’t cutting it anymore. It was cool going to lunch so late before, because then it felt like the rest of the day just whizzed by and by the time I knew it, it was 3:00.

Sometimes I wouldn’t even have a chance to have a snack at 9:30, so I’d be shaking and starving by the time Mrs. V. got back from her lunch. That’s what caused me to develop diabetes in May to begin with–totally not what I need right now during this pregnancy.

I had everything done around the house since the day before, so I got to chill out and upload pics to my Flickr. Well, I did have a bit of laundry to do, but that was it.

Mom and the in-laws bar-b-q’d outside, so I didn’t even have to make dinner. We got the final details down for Mario’s birthday on Wednesday, the 12th. I had the perfect idea for his present, and it was such a great deal at Walmart! Even better: Mary said we’d go halfers on it! I was going to call in on Wednesday since I had my glucose screening and it was going to take forever, so I could go shopping right after the appointment.

Tues., Nov. 11th – I had another one of those ugly, vivid dreams Monday night—only this time it was about Alaethia. It was a really long dream but the short version is:

We were at my school, which was some kind of dorm. We had a suite and the boys were already asleep, Mario was out and I already had the baby, who looked exactly like Alaethia only smaller. I was having trouble putting Alaethia to sleep (just like I was in real life that night) and when she finally went to sleep I sneaked off to pee. I washed my face and when I opened my eyes and looked in the mirror I saw something rush behind me in the reflection. I turn around and some brown, slimy lizard creature lunged at me and tried attacking me with these tiny, razor-sharp teeth. I was terrified and tried choking it but when it refused to give up I started banging its spine against the corner of the sink. When I felt it go limp I looked at it…and it was Alaethia, only much smaller and the same brown, speckled color as the lizard creature. I screamed in horror as I see her little head bob to one side and her arms hang limp. I kept telling myself in the dream that no, this creature was trying to trick me and make me believe it was Alaethia, but it wasn’t. As hard as it was for me to do I lay the Alaethia clone on the floor and scream for help. Someone was in the hallway and I asked them to please check if Alaethia was asleep in bed, it was an emergency. I kept watch on the creature, sobbing because I wasn’t sure what was going on, and I’d never forgive myself if this really was Alaethia. The woman helping me ran and checked and when she came back she was panting and said, “She’s not in bed! That’s her! Don’t hurt her!”

I turned and looked at the creature on the ground and my heart banged in my ears. I woke up after that and couldn’t sleep at all. It should be illegal to have dreams like that. I prayed and prayed to God to let me sleep and erase that dream from my memory. But when I finally did fall asleep I had another horrible dream, this time about some hollow, dying dogs that Jorge, Mario’s friend, had given us. That one was terrible, too, but nothing’s more awful than bad dreams about my kids.

I thought about the dream all day and almost started bawling when I told Mrs. V., and later Mrs. Ruiz about it. I texted Mario in the morning and told him about how awful the dreams were and what a crappy day I felt I was going to have. I even forgot to put on deodorant!

The day would have gone even worse had Mrs. V. not returned when she did from running errands around the school…I didn’t leave for lunch till 11:37. I was so glad she got back and once I actually had lunch, the day became a little brighter.

I got home and just wanted to chill out and relax, but I get a text from Mario letting me know he’s got his birthday off! There was no way I’d have a chance to buy his gift the next day and surprise him so I had no choice but to go to Walmart that same evening. I go online to check the prices one more time and realize I’ve made a huge boo-boo: the Playstation 3 bundle I wanted to buy him was only sold online. It wouldn’t get here till November 27th! I called around looking for other specials or bundles but had no luck. I was lucky Target had some available.

It took some convincing, but I finally got the boys in the Equinox. They hate going anywhere, especially to town, during the week after school. Reminds me of their father, heh. They were looking forward to spending the money they’d saved up. Eenan had $13 because he got $10 from the Tooth Fairy and I knew Jaylen had been saving money, but I had no idea how much. I took his word when he told me he also had $13.

We got to Target and I got Mario the console, the cooling bundle with remote, a Blu-Ray movie: Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and the 3-yr warranty. That’s really why Mario’s always wanted the PS3: for the Blu-Ray player.

The boys wanted to stop by Game Stop since they didn’t find anything at Target. Eenan bought himself a game for his DS and Jaylen got one for his beloved Game Cube. He passes me his little Transformers wallet and I unzip it. With our Game Stop discount his game came out to $9.50. I thought Cool, he’ll even have some left over. I look into the wallet and I don’t know whether to laugh or scream: there’s two dollar bills and the rest are pennies and quarters, mostly pennies. I glare at him and pull a $10 out of my wallet. He smiles.

I’m raising a con artist.